BENGALURU, August 7: Following the successful insertion of India’s third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3, into the moon’s orbit, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that it has effectively executed an orbit reduction maneuver. This achievement brings the spacecraft closer to the moon’s surface, positioning it at 170 km x 4,313 km. ISRO plans to conduct the next operation of this kind on August 9, 2023, between 1300 and 1400 hrs IST.
Subsequent to this milestone, ISRO has scheduled three additional moon-bound maneuvers to occur by August 17. Once these are completed, the landing module, encompassing both the lander and rover, will separate from the propulsion module. Following this, de-orbiting maneuvers will be performed on the lander, culminating in its final descent onto the lunar surface. ISRO aims to achieve a soft landing on August 23.
Since its launch on July 14, Chandrayaan-3 has undergone a series of orchestrated movements, progressively moving away from Earth over three weeks.
The propulsion module is tasked with ferrying the lander and rover configuration to within 100 km of lunar orbit. Notably, the propulsion module is equipped with the Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload, designed for analyzing Earth’s spectral and polarimetric features from the lunar orbit.
The lander possesses the capability for a soft lunar landing at a designated site, from which the rover can be deployed to perform in-situ chemical analyses of the lunar surface during its mobility.
Both the lander and rover are equipped with scientific payloads, enabling them to conduct experiments directly on the lunar terrain.
